Improvement in boots and shoes



T. R. EVANS.

Boots and Shoes.

N0. 163,171, Patented May11, 1875.

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ATENT Grrron THOMAS R. EVANS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letieis Patent No. 163,171 dated May 11, 1875; application filed February 15, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS E. EVANS, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Shoes and Boots, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to construct a gored shoe, which will accommodate itself to the movement of the wearers foot more readily than ordinary gored shoes, and will, at the same time, retain its proper shape; and this object I attain in the manner I will now proceed to describe, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 illustrates my invention applied to' an ordinary shoe; and Fig. 2, my invention applied to a buttoned boot.

On reference to Fig. 1, it will be observed that the leather forming the upper A of the shoe is continued upward in the form of a strip, a, along the instep, and terminates in a tag, b, which serves to facilitate the fitting of the shoe to the foot. On each side of this strip there is an elastic gore, and each gore is contracted at the point 00, from which point the gore gradually increases in width in both directions; hence the front or upper of the shoe has a graduated elasticity. It is com paratively rigid at the point 00, for instance, where the gores are narrow, and this rigidity tends to maintain the sides of the shoe in the more elasticity is imparted to the upper, owing to the increased width of the elastic gores at this point, where elasticity is demanded for the free play of the joints of the foot.. At the instep, also, the gores are increased in width for increased elasticity at this point. Apart from this graduation of the elasticity of the gores, their presence at the points as, in Fig. 1, prevents the formation at those points of the'usual lump, which in common shoes is due to the junction of three pieces of leather at the said points. The prolongation of the upper to form the piece a avoids the usual seam at the junction of the two, rendering the boot more elastic and more comfortable to the wearer.

In Fig. 2 the two gores are shown as applied to the buttoned boot, for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 1st day of October, 1872.

I claim as my invention- A shoe or boot, having a central strip, a, forming a continuation of, and in one piece with, the vamp, and on each side of said strip a graduated elastic gore, broadest at its ends, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOS. R. EVANS. Witnesses:

HUBERT HowsoN, HARRY SMITH. 

